August 10, 2008

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

Its late on Saturday evening as I write this weekly email. Tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. I'll be heading with about a dozen parishioners plus my daughter Annie and grandson Jack for a day trip to Chautauqua. It will be a pretty full day and hopefully a very good one for those who are making this trip with me.

On Monday morning I plan on being at Sacred Heart Cathedral for the funeral Mass of one of the finest priests I have ever known. Fr. Francis R. Davis went home to the Lord this week. I'm also postponing my vacation a few days so that I can attend and preach at a memorial Mass at St. Mary's in Corning on Wednesday night. I am honored to be preaching at that service. Fr. Davis and I were a presider preaching team for several years during the early 1990's. He was pastor of St. Patrick's in Corning.

Have a great week.

This Week's Column: August 10, 2008 - A Very Significant Summer Week

Last Saturday, Fr. Jim and I concluded another very busy and significant Summer week of ministry here at St. Mary’s. On that day, we celebrated the passing of Dorothy Dougherty at 10:00 a.m. Jim and Geri Galvin renewed their 50 year old marriage vows at noon. Missionary Sr. Virginia Mozo was guest speaker at weekend Masses at both St. Mary’s and St. Gabriel’s.

Fr. Peter Anglaaere, Fr. Jim, Fr. Brad Benson, pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath and Good Shepherd Church in Savona and Fr. Edward a visiting priest from Ghana and I participated in the 7:30 p.m. funeral of Art Moran. In his homily, Fr. Peter noted Arts special love of his family, the Knights of Columbus and St. Mary’s Parish. It was of special significance to Art that during the past year, the Knights had made St. Mary’s their new home - a belief that I share with gratitude.

Then as Fr. Jim walked Gracie and enjoyed a late evening cigar, I drove to Hammondsport to catch the second act of the Keuka Lake Players production of Oklahoma. Several parishioners including Bob, Mary Catherine and Theresa Colomaio, Karen Grimmer and Joyce Swackhammer gave outstanding performances. The excellent pit band included Bill and Patrick Grimmer, Michelle Neu and Dick Drane.

Father Jim has an expression that always brings a chuckle. “Ray, today we’ve crammed 50 pounds of activity into a 20 pound sack.” Sometime in the vicinity of 11:30 p.m. I turned off the light and thanked God for blessing me with another 50 pounds of grace filled activity.

Guest Priest Presiders

One of the ways that we are striving to keep sane and honor the priestly service of Fr. Jim is to invite area priests to say one or two of the weekend Masses at St. Mary’s and St. Gabriel’s. Fr. Lew Brown who serves as sacramental minister at All Saints Parish in Corning presided at weekend Masses during the last two week’s of July. During August and September, Fr. John O’Connor, a retired priest living in Penn Yan, will be our guest presider at one or two weekend Masses. This week, Fr. Jim has Air National Guard duties in Niagara Falls so Fr. O’Connor will preside at our Saturday afternoon Masses.

Councils/Staff Discuss Stewardship

On Tuesday evening, July 29th, our Parish Council, Finance Council and Staff met at the Keuka Lake home of Janet Madigan. Our special guest was Mark Clark, who assists the parishes of our diocese in creating successful Stewardship programs. Mark’s important work is one of the ways that we benefit from your contributions to the Catholic Ministry Appeal.

During 2007, we actively promoted and celebrated the numerous ways that you our parishioners share your Stewardship gifts of Time and Talent. At weekend Masses, we invited people involved in parish and community based ministries to witness to their work. Our Lenten programs that year centered around the theological and scriptural underpinnings of Stewardship and we distributed, read and discussed “The Burgundy Book” of reflections on Stewardship by Bishop Ken Untener the former bishop of Saginaw Michigan.

Now, with parish expenses frequently exceeding revenues, it is time to explore the third leg of the Stewardship tripod - Treasure. During the remainder of 2008, we hope to gain a greater understanding of the importance of financial stewardship to our parish and its ministries. Then, during the spring, we’ll ask you to make stewardship giving to your parish, the diocese and your community a personal priority.

Deacon Ray

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Bulletin: August 10th, 2008